Luc Sante

I Was Looking for a Street

by Luc Sante

Publisher's Description

“I’m proud to say I knew the man who wrote this book,”writes Elmore Leonard of cult crime
writer CharlesWilleford’s moving memoir of his youth.“It is pure writing, never pretentious or
forced, never melodramatic, but honest storytelling of the highest order. This is how to do it, if
anyone wants to know: how to write simple prose from a young boy’s point of view and hold
the reader spellbound.” IWas Looking for a Street tells the story of the author’s childhood and
adolescence as an orphan, as he moves from railroad yards to hobo tent cities, to soup
kitchens and deserts around Los Angeles and across the United States. The ensuing tale is at
once a picaresque adventure through Depression-era America and a portrait of the writer as a
young man of seemingly little promise but great spirit.Written afterWilleford’s later literary
success with Cockfighter,Miami Blues and TheWoman Chaser, this memoir is the work of a
writer at the height of his powers, looking back without nostalgia or regret, and preserving in
his clear and powerful prose the great American adventure of his youth. IWas Looking for a
Street is the first in a series of PictureBox reissues of the work ofWilleford,who today counts
writer Luc Sante (who contributes a preface to this volume), director Quentin Tarantino and
musicianWill Oldham among his many devoted fans.